Art Car Museum
At the "Garage Mahal" in Houston, car culture is about more than just drivingSome people wash and wax their cars, making sure that the finish is exactly as clean and shiny as the day they bought it. The art car movement goes in the entirely other direction.
While those who create art cars are still concerned with how their car looks, they approach the car itself as a blank canvas on which to create a masterpiece. Armed with paint, glue, objects, and what ever else will stay stuck on a car that still needs to drive, the creators go to work.
Often the folks that do this are not trained artists but normal people who still drive their creations (usually done on older or used cars, but not always) to work every day. Among the art car creations a favorite style is where one particular thing has been glued on the entirety of the car exterior such as cameras, corks, cd's, trophies and so on.
In Houston this art car culture is a deep part of the city. Growing out of a long Houston tradition of outsider art, in 1986, 11 art cars were exhibited alongside the Fruitmobile (the 'first' of the Houston art cars, made to be auctioned) at The Orange Show. By April, 1988 the Houston art car culture and art car parade was in full swing with the first official art car parade in the U.S. took place with a 40 car parade and was seen by over two thousand onlookers.
The art car museum aims to make this appreciation of this art form year round, and in 1988 opened the same year as the first large scale parade. Known as the "Garage Mahal" the museum was founded by artists James and Ann Harithas. Among their collections are the non-Car based art by Houston's art car artists, as well as a "collection of cars, bicycles, motorcycles, roller-skaters, and many other types of motorized and human-powered vehicles all decorated in various themes." Among the best cars in the museum are Rex Rabbit a giant rabbit shaped car clutching a basket of eggs, Faith by David Best complete with water buffalo head in place of longhorns, and the giant roach shaped "Roachster."
The art car parade in Houston is still the and largest Art Car Parade in the world.
Obscura Day location: April 9, 2011.
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Category: Museums and Collections, Outsider Art, Obscura Day Location
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Edited by: Alicekh, Dylan, Nicholas Jackson, tripandtravel1, Rachel